Tag: Be-Papas

Grown-Up Stuff: The ‘Revolutionary Girl Utena’ Rewatch, Part 18

The bird is fighting its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Whoever wishes to be born must destroy a world. The bird is flying to God. The god is named Abraxas.

Herman Hesse, Demian

Revolutionary Girl Utena, episode 18: “Mitsuru’s Impatience.” Directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara. Character designs by Chiho Saito. Be-Papas, Japan, 1997 (Nozomi Entertainment, 2011). Approx. 24 minutes. Rated “16+.”

Watch for free.

| NEXT

Hmm, haven’t done one of these in a while. I think it’s time once again to dive into that greatest of LCD-laced art-house-style anime from the 1990s—and, of course, to do with copious helpings of Texts from Last Night.

Mari sits on a table and eats chocolate while scorning Tsuwabuki

Continue reading “Grown-Up Stuff: The ‘Revolutionary Girl Utena’ Rewatch, Part 18”

More Cowbell: The ‘Revolutionary Girl Utena’ Rewatch, Part 16

Nanami’s got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell.

The bird is fighting its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Whoever wishes to be born must destroy a world. The bird is flying to God. The god is named Abraxas.

—Herman Hesse, Demian

Revolutionary Girl Utena, episode 16: “The Cowbell of Happiness.” Directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara. Character designs by Chiho Saito. Be-Papas, 1997 (Nozomi Entertainment, 2011). Approx. 24 minutes. Rated “16+.”

Watch for free.

|

This is, hands down, the worst episode in Revolutionary Girl Utena. It’s also one of the weirdest, which is saying something.

We have reached another of the so-called “Nanami episodes,” that is, filler episodes starring Nanami, the spoiled little sister of the student council president Touga. Nanami, just as a reminder, is not even a character in the manga version, but she gets lots and lots of screen time to herself in the anime.

Nanami smugly wears a cowbell
And I hear they’re free.

Most of the episodes focused around Nanami involve her trying to show off or get the better of someone else, and getting owned for it. This is in that same vein.

Continue reading “More Cowbell: The ‘Revolutionary Girl Utena’ Rewatch, Part 16”